Revenant

From DoomWiki.org

A revenant on the move in MAP06: The Crusher of Doom II.
This article is about the monster in the classic Doom series. For other games, see:

Revenants are monsters introduced in Doom II that are easily recognized by their high-pitched shriek. They take the form of very tall animated skeletons in silver metal body armor equipped with shoulder-mounted missile launchers, and blood and gore running down their legs. Their running movements are a herky-jerky approach akin to a stringed puppet. They are officially described as follows:

"Apparently when a demon dies, they pick him up, dust him off, wire him some combat gear, and send him back into battle. No rest for the wicked, eh? You wish your missiles did what his can do."
― Doom II instruction manual [source]

Combat characteristics[edit]

A revenant emits a loud, high-pitched, hollow scream when spotting the player.

Revenants fire two varieties of missiles, unguided and homing. The homing missiles can be distinguished by a gray smoke trail. During melee combat they can also strike a blow with one of their large fists, complete with an exaggerated punching sound effect. Revenants have a unique characteristic unlike any other monster that has a melee attack: when the distance to its target is less than 196 units, the revenant abandons its missile attack completely and attempts to close to melee range; if attacked and hurt however, it will still immediately counter-attack with a single missile.

A revenant fires an unguided missile on odd game tics and homing missiles on even game tics, with a 1 in 4 chance of inverted behavior due to RNG off-set. In practice since the vast majority of a revenant's animations last an even number of frames, any given revenant will favor one type of missile with a 3-1 ratio unless they are injured (as their pain animation does have an odd duration if not interrupted), or contact is broken.[1]

When killed, a few of the revenant's bones will shatter and the monster will simply fall on its back, one of the cleanest monster deaths the player will come across.

Tactical analysis[edit]

The revenant's missiles are powerful and when homing, particularly hard to dodge when out in the open. Fortunately, the pain chance of a revenant is high, so a chaingun will generally suffice against a single monster, preventing it from attacking. Two solid blasts from the super shotgun will reliably kill a revenant. It is advisable for the player to keep moving in order to avoid distant missiles, and if pillars, walls, or other obstacles are available, then they will be useful as barriers for stopping homing missiles. The homing missiles are very difficult to outrun, but if the player is able to strafe to the side and then forward just before being hit, the projectile may not be able to come around again. This tactic is especially useful if the player has backed up against a wall, as the missile will impact the wall before it has a chance to orbit for another pass. Another way to dodge them is for the player to slide behind an obstacle or around a corner.

The revenant's missiles are uniquely spawned 16 units above the center of its body, in order to accommodate for its shoulder-mounted launchers. This makes the demon capable of firing over obstacles behind which the player might otherwise be safe.

The revenant is fast on its feet, so players must be sure to keep their distance. If they do not, the melee attack of the revenant delivers a fiendishly powerful blow that can easily crush the player with a few hits.

For players with good movement skills however, the knowledge of the revenant's unique melee strategy (see above) can be abused to render them essentially harmless at close range. Berserk punching is effective, and can fell a revenant with as few as two hits. Still, because there is always a danger of the revenant retaliating with a missile, tackling them in melee is strongly discouraged for novice players.

On harder difficulties, they are often found in large groups, especially out in the open. When fighting groups of these towering skeletons, it is useful to use a plasma gun, the BFG9000 or a rocket launcher.

In monster infighting, revenants excel in ranged and positional combat, especially if the terrain restricts their opponent's movement or ranged attack efficiency, while their homing projectiles will reliably score hits over long distances and across height differences. At close range however, they fare substantially worse due to their low health and high pain chance. A revenant sometimes can win against a cacodemon but a mancubus, an arachnotron or Hell knight, for instance, can waste a revenant fairly easily.

Notes[edit]

  • The name revenant is of French origin, and generally means "one who returns (from death)".
  • When compared to the monster as it appears in the game, the revenant model built during the game's development shows a good deal more muscle tissue, and no chest armor.
  • The sprite name for the revenant's missiles is FATB, and is grouped directly under the mancubus sprites (FATT). The graphics for these missiles may have been initially intended for the mancubus projectiles earlier in Doom II's development.
  • Despite the fact that the engine considers the revenant only 56 units in height, the actual sprite of monster is taller closer to 72 units or more in height, making the revenant look as if it is standing "inside" the ceiling if it enters a corridor or room that is less than 72 units in height.
  • Final Doom's The Plutonia Experiment has the most amount of revenants used in a single mainstream Doom title; almost every single level has them, with the sole exclusions being MAP11: Hunted (since it only contains arch-viles as enemies) and MAP17: Compound.
  • Because revenant rockets adjust their direction to aim towards the targeted player, it is possible to place them into stable orbits [1][2].
  • When attacking at range, both of the revenant's shoulder mounted missile launchers visually light up despite that only one missile is fired.
  • Revenants, unlike most monsters, have separate animations for missile and melee attack.
  • PlayStation/Sega Saturn Doom's version of the revenant is considerably easier to tangle with than its DOS counterpart; its running speed is much slower (akin to a zombie's or imp's pace), and while it only fires homing missiles, the missiles are also slower and easier to avoid.
  • The revenant was originally meant to appear in Doom 64 alongside the remaining cast of demons, but was cut due to cartridge limitations. Its wake-up and attack sounds are still left in the game files, recycled from PlayStation Doom. Its projectiles remain as well, and are used by the game's scripted homing fireball traps. As it would turn out, the revenant was a favorite demon among the map designers.[2]

Data[edit]

Damage done by a revenant's punch
Punches needed to kill1 Mean Standard
deviation
Min Max
Player (100%
health, no armor)
3.68 1.01 2 8
Player (100%
health, security armor)
5.16 1.20 3 9
Player (200%
health, combat armor)
12.86 1.58 9 17
Barrel 1.37 0.59 1 4
Trooper 1.37 0.59 1 4
Sergeant 1.50 0.66 1 5
Wolfenstein SS 2.18 0.80 1 5
Imp 2.40 0.82 1 6
Chaingunner 2.81 0.84 2 6
Lost soul 3.68 1.01 2 8
Commander Keen 3.68 1.01 2 8
Demon 5.16 1.20 3 9
Spectre 5.16 1.20 3 9
Boss brain2 8.30 1.39 5 12
Revenant 9.73 1.50 6 14
Cacodemon 12.86 1.58 9 17
Pain elemental 12.86 1.58 9 17
Hell knight 16.00 1.60 12 20
Arachnotron 16.00 1.60 12 20
Mancubus 18.86 1.60 15 22
Arch-vile 22.03 1.54 18 26
Baron of Hell 31.28 1.35 27 35
Spiderdemon 92.97 1.85 88 97
Cyberdemon 123.86 2.07 118 127
Damage done by a revenant's missile
Shots needed to kill
(normal missile)
Mean Standard
deviation
Min Max
Player (100%
health, no armor)
2.75 0.78 2 5
Player (100%
health, security armor)
3.85 0.91 2 6
Player (200%
health, combat armor)
9.50 1.50 6 14
Barrel 1.12 0.33 1 2
Trooper 1.12 0.33 1 2
Sergeant 1.27 0.51 1 3
Wolfenstein SS 1.59 0.68 1 4
Imp 1.80 0.75 1 4
Chaingunner 2.04 0.77 1 5
Lost soul 2.75 0.78 2 5
Commander Keen 2.75 0.78 2 5
Demon 3.85 0.91 2 6
Spectre 3.85 0.91 2 6
Boss brain 6.09 1.18 4 9
Revenant3
Cacodemon 9.50 1.50 6 14
Pain elemental 9.50 1.50 6 14
Hell knight 11.68 1.70 8 16
Arachnotron 11.68 1.70 8 16
Mancubus 13.90 1.83 9 18
Arch-vile 16.16 1.97 11 20
Baron of Hell 22.80 2.24 17 28
Spiderdemon 67.32 2.88 61 74
Cyberdemon 89.75 2.52 84 97
Shots needed to kill
(guided missile)4
Mean Standard
deviation
Min Max
Player (100%
health, no armor)
2.79 0.84 2 6
Player (100%
health, security armor)
3.91 1.07 2 8
Player (200%
health, combat armor)
9.42 1.56 6 15
Barrel 1.12 0.33 1 2
Trooper 1.12 0.33 1 2
Sergeant 1.25 0.46 1 3
Wolfenstein SS 1.61 0.69 1 4
Imp 1.81 0.76 1 5
Chaingunner 2.05 0.82 1 5
Lost soul 2.79 0.84 2 6
Commander Keen 2.79 0.84 2 6
Demon 3.91 1.07 2 8
Spectre 3.91 1.07 2 8
Boss brain 6.09 1.33 4 11
Revenant3
Cacodemon 9.42 1.56 6 15
Pain elemental 9.42 1.56 6 15
Hell knight 11.62 1.65 8 17
Arachnotron 11.62 1.65 8 17
Mancubus 13.82 1.72 10 20
Arch-vile 16.03 1.76 11 21
Baron of Hell 22.80 1.91 19 28
Spiderdemon 67.36 1.94 62 72
Cyberdemon 89.75 2.03 85 95

  1. These tables assume that all calls to P_Random for damage, pain chance, impact animations, backfire checks, and smoke trails are consecutive. In real play, this is never the case: counterattacks and AI pathfinding must be handled, and of course the map may contain additional moving monsters and other randomized phenomena (such as flickering lights). Any resulting errors are probably toward the single-shot average, as they introduce noise into the correlation between the indices of "consecutive" calls.
  2. Assumes that direct hits are possible, which does not occur in any stock map.
  3. Hardcoded exception to infighting negates damage (excepting indirect damage caused by exploding barrels).
  4. Assumes that the target is 196 units away. The approximation of consecutive P_Random calls is particularly shaky in the case of a revenant's missile: not only does the total number of calls depend on the flight time of the missile (via the smoke puffs), but the absolute gametic value at launch determines whether the missile is guided or not, and that in turn is highly dependent on how far the revenant walks between attacks.

Appearance statistics[edit]

In the IWADs the revenant is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

The IWADs contain the following numbers of revenants per skill level:

Of the maps covered on the Doom Wiki, the following have the highest numbers of revenants in single-player:

Map Count
MAP05: Cosmogenesis (Cosmogenesis) 12174
Doomworld Mega Project 2019 10793
Holy Hell Revealed 6926
MAP31: Assassin's Greed (SlaughterMAX) 5557
Holy Hell MAP05 4697

This data was last verified on March 13, 2024.

Doom RPG[edit]

For the monster from Legacy of Rust, see Ghoul (Legacy of Rust).

In Doom RPG, the revenant appears as a class of monster. There are three variations, in order of power, identified by color:

  • Ghoul (normal colors with green blood on its legs)
  • Fiend (shaded blue, with purple blood on its legs)
  • Revenant (normal colors)

Revenant-class monsters explode when killed and cause damage to any adjacent player, monsters, or barrels. They are weak against rockets.

References in other games[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. decino (14 May 2020). "The Mystery of the Revenant Missile." YouTube. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  2. FirebrandX. "Interview with Tim Heydelaar and Randy Estrella." Doom Depot. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
Monsters from Classic Doom
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